Shoe form



W. J DE WITT ET AL SHOE FORM Filed Aug. 17, 1935 op gelZa Y Mfg/9c Patented July 14, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOE FORM William J. De Witt and Isaac Goo'dfellow, Au-

burn, N. Y., assignors to Shoe Form 00., Inc., Auburn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 1'7, 1935, Serial No. 36,677

Y 8 Claims.

if formable material and a cross brace connecting the walls of the toe portion for expanding or contracting the same. Shoe forms of this general type are old and well known and the present invention relates to the cross brace feature and more particularly the form and operation thereof.

The primary object of this invention is to provide in a shoe form a cross brace, which may or may not consist of two sections, pivoted at one end to one wall of the toe portion and having a slot in the other end which receives a stud carried by the other wall of the toe portion, said slot having a plurality of notches or recesses in one or both walls thereof.

Another object of this invention is to provide in a shoe form a cross brace made up of two pivotally connected sections which act as a toggle whereby the toe portion may be easily inserted into and removed from the toe of a shoe.

These and other objects will appear from a consideration of the following description and of the .drawing which form a part thereof and in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a shoe form embodying this invention inserted in the toe of a shoe;

Fig.2 is a plan view of a form with the upper removed" illustrating one embodiment of this invention, the form being fully expanded;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, the form being partially contracted;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 4-4 on Fig. 2; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Fig. 2 illustrating other embodiments of this invention.

The shoe form Ill includes a toe portion II the walls of which terminate in ball flanges I2 and I3. As shown in Fig. 1 the toe portion II is adapted to be inserted in the toe l4 of a shoe to plump out the toe thereof. The practice of using the form'is, as is well known, to contract the walls of the shoe form, insertthe contracted form into the toe of ashoe and expand the walls of the form theproper distance to give the toe of the shoe the desired appearance. The shoe form is withdrawn from the shoe by reversing the above order of operations. These treatments of the shoe form are carried out by means of the cross brace the structure and operation of which will now be described.

The cross brace I5 of the toe form embodiment illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 comprises sections I6 and I1 pivotally joined at their overlapping inner ends by a stud or rivet I8. The outer ends of the sections are pivotally secured to the toe form flanges, the section I6 being attached to the flange I3 by a stud .or rivet 20 5 which is carried by the flange and passes through an arcuate slot 2| in the section. Thus the section I6 has only a pivotal movement relative to the flange I2 while the section I! has both a pivotal and a longitudinal movement relative to any one of several positions whereby as pointed 15 out above the expansion of the toe form can be adjusted. A tongue 23 projects upwardly from the inner end of the section I6. The tongue is preferably but not necessarily integral with the section l6'and is located at the outer edge thereof. The tongue thus serves to facilitate the pivotal movement of the section I6 about the rivet 9 formoving the sections I6 and I1 into or out of'alignment and further serves to limit such movement in one direction. The form when inserted in a shoe is first, contracted byswinging the cross brace sections out of alignment (Fig. 3), second, inserted into the shoe toe and third, expanded by bringing the cross brace sections into alignment (Fig. 2). When the stud 20 is at the bottom of the slot 2| as shown in Fig. 2 the walls of the form are fully expanded. Under manyconditions however such full expansion is not desired and the usual procedure is, before the form is inserted into the shoe, to shift the section II so that the stud 20 is at the top of the slot and, after the sections have been brought into alignment, to apply further pressure on the tongue 23 so that the cross brace swings as a unit about the stud I9 until the toe of the shoe has been plumped out sufficiently. V

The cross brace 25 of the embodiment shown in Fig. 5 is made of a single strip pivoted at one end upon'a stud 26 carried by the flange I2 and having at the other end a notched slot 21 which receives a stud 28 on the flange I3. The tongue 29 is'struck up from the body of the cross brace. The movement of the cross brace preferably by grasping the tongue 29 causes the cross brace to swing about the stud 26 the slot 21 being moved relative to the stud 28 to expand or contract the walls of the form. v

The cross brace 30 of the form shown in Fig. 6 like that shown in Fig. 5 is movable only as a unit. It however consists of two sections joined together, to wit, a rod 3| and a plate 32 suitably connected. As shown in the drawing the rod 3| is pivoted at one end to a stud 33 on the flange I2 and is secured at the other end to a stud 34 on the plate 32 being held against movement relative to the plate by suitable clips 35. A notched slot 36 in the plate 32 receives a stud 37 on the flange l3. A pivotal movement of the cross brace about the stud 33 obviously causes the cross brace to expand or contract the walls.v of the form by the interaction of the slot 36 and stud 31.

While certain embodiments have been shown and described it will be understood that we are not limited thereto and that other embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention as set forth in the following claims.

We claim:

1. A shoe form comprising a unitary hollow toe portion and a cross brace connecting the walls thereof, said cross brace being pivoted at one end to one wall of the toe portion and having at the other end an arcuate slot which receives an element carried by the other wall of the toe portion, both walls of said slot having recesses adapted to receive said element and removably position the cross brace whereby the pivotal movement of the cross brace causes the slotted end to move relative to the element and thereby expand or contract the walls of the toe portion.

2. Ashoe form comprising a unitary hollow toe portion and a cross brace, said toe portion having ball flanges extending inwardly from the bottom of both. side walls and studs carried by said flanges one on each and said cross brace being pivoted at one end upon the stud carried by one flange and having at the other end an arcuate slot which receives the stud' on the other flange, both walls of I said slot having recesses adapted to receive said stud and removably position the cross brace whereby the pivotal movement of the cross brace causes the slotted end to move relative to the stud and thereby expand or contract the walls of the toe portion.

3. A shoe form comprising a hollow toe portion and a cross brace, said toe portion having flanges at bothside walls and studs carried by said flanges one on each and said cross brace being pivoted at one end upon the stud carried by one flange and having at the other end an arcuate slot which receives the stud on the other flange, a side wall of said slot having spaced recesses into Which the stud enters and is removably held, whereby the pivotal movement of the cross brace causes the slotted end to move relative to the stud until the latter enters a recess when the walls of the toe portion are separated the desired distance, and means on the cross brace intermediate the ends thereof for facilitating the movement of the cross brace.

4. A shoe form comprising a unitary hollow toe portion and a cross brace, said toe portion having ball flanges extending inwardly from the bottoms of both side walls and studs carried by said flanges one on each, and said cross brace consisting of two sections, one end of one section being pivotally joined to one end of the other section, the other end of the first named section being pivoted to one flange by the stud thereon, and the other end of the second named section having an arcuate slot therein which receives the stud on the other flange and means for moving said sections into alignment and said cross brace as a unit about the stud on one flange, the engagement of the slot with the stud on the other flange causing the walls of the toe portion .to expand.

5. A shoe form comprising a hollow toe portion and a cross brace, said toe portion having flanges at both side walls and studs carried by said flanges one on each, and said cross brace consisting of two sections, one end of one section being pivotally joined to one end of the other section, the other end of the first named section being pivoted to one flange by the stud thereon, and the other end of the second named section having an arcuate slot therein which receives the stud on the other flange, one side wall of the slot. having a plurality of spaced recesses into which the stud enters and is removably held and means for moving said sections into alignment and said cross brace as aunit about the stud on one flange, until the stud on the other flange enters a recess in said slot and the side walls of the toe portion have been sufliciently expanded.

6. A shoe form comprising a hollow toe portion and a cross brace, said toe portion having flanges at both side walls and studs carried by said flanges one on each, and said cross brace consisting of two sections, one end of one section being pivotally joined to oneend of the other section, the other end of the first named section being pivoted to one flange by the stud thereon, and the other end of the second named section having an arcuate slot therein which receives the stud on the other flange, and a tongue projecting upwardly from one section for moving the sections into alignment at which time the tongue engages the other section to limit independent movement of the sections, and for moving the cross brace as a unit to separate the sidewalls of the toe portion.

'7. A shoe form comprising a unitary hollow toe portion and a cross'bra'casaid toe portion having ball flanges extending inwardly from the bottoms of bothside walls and studs carried by said flanges one on each, and said cross brace consisting of two sections joined together, one end of one section being pivotally attached to the stud on one side flange and the other section having an arcuate slot therein which receives the stud on the other side flange.

8. A shoe form comprisng a hollow toe'portion and a cross brace, said toe portion having flanges at both side walls and studs carried by said flanges one on each, and said cross brace consisting of two sections joined together, one section being a rod pivotally attached to the stud' on one side flange and the other section being a plate having an arcuate slot therein which receives the stud on the other side flange.

WILLIAM J. DE WITT. ISAAC GOODFELLOW. 

